RELEASE: LDP STANDS WITH DEYSHIA HARGRAVE AND LOUISIANA ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATORS AT PROTEST

by lademocrat1 on January 11, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2018

Contact: D’Seante Parks

Dparks@lademo.org

(225) 336-4155

THE LOUISIANA DEMOCRATIC PARTY STANDS WITH DEYSHIA HARGRAVE AND LOUISIANA ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATORS AT PROTEST

BATON ROUGE, La. – Today, Louisiana Democratic Party Executive Director Stephen Handwerk will join the Louisiana Association of Educators and Vermilion Parish educators to protest the disgraceful arrest of Vermilion Parish teacher Deyshia Hargrave for speaking up about the mistreatment of educators.

The arrest occurred at a school board meeting after Hargrave questioned a vote to give the superintendent a sizable pay raise when other district employees hadn’t received one in close to a decade while class sizes increase exponentially.

Ahead of his participation in the protest, Handwerk issued the following statement.

This is unacceptable. Citizens have the right to ask questions of their elected leaders and the arrest of this award-winning educator because she was brave enough to ask a question is wrong. Furthermore, we must remember that this is illustrative of a larger problem in this Parish and in our state. This isn’t the first time teachers have been singled out and vilified in the region. Representative Nancy Landry (R) represents a significant portion of Vermilion Parish and has lead efforts to disrespect, punish and belittle our educators and support staff for years. The Louisiana Democratic Party is working to recruit and replace elected leaders who do not serve hardworking Louisianians, especially educators who work every day to prepare our children to be the future of our state. Teachers deserve our praise and respect. We have to be there now and on Election Day for our teachers.

The rally will be held Thursday, January 11th at 3:45 p.m. at Magdalen Square in Abbeville, LA.